SEAL IN A TIGHT SPOT IS SAVED
THESE amazing pictures show a seal being rescued after getting its head caught in the rope of a buoy.
British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) was called after a dog walker spotted the creature trapped in a mooring rope.
The stricken mammal had a loop of mooring rope twisted around its neck that was held in place by a buoy.
Luckily, it was close enough to the surface of Portreath harbour that it was still able to come up for air and a team of medics launched a rescue operation.
There was a strong swell and current running through the harbour, so Dan Jarvis of the BDMLR and medic Nicole Ilett used ropes to tether themselves to other medics on the ground for safety.
Nicole restrained the panicking pup while Dan used a safety cutter to saw away at the ropes around its neck.
He first cut one of the loops and then cut away the buoy to slacken the remaining line.
The seal could then thrash its way out and safely escaped.
The BDMLR said: “It’s very rare that we deal with seals in the water, so this was a very unusual callout for our team to deal with and a number of risks were taken into account to ensure that it was done as safely as possible under the circumstances
“We do get quite a few calls like this each year as seals are very curious animals that like to explore their surroundings, including playing with ropes like this one, even wrapping themselves in it.
“But invariably, in almost all cases they are quickly and easily able to free themselves again.”